We still have the landline, but through our cable company, because DH needs a phone for work and doesn’t want to give out his cell number to everyone. 95% of the calls we get we never answer because they’re from telemarketers or other numbers we don’t recognize. When he retires, we’ll probably dump the landline.
“n the Atlanta market, Comcast is capping you at 300 GB/month.”
@MotherOfDragons Comcast raised the limit to 1 terabyte starting in June in all markets. No more going over the limit for us!
Am I one of the few who ditched the land line? It was costing us $45 a month about 7 years ago and the only calls I got were from telemarketers. We all have cell phones and mine is the the primary house number for things like the plumber, etc. Yup, a picture is over the phone plug in the bathroom. The rest I just ignore like some of the electric outlets I’m not using. At first it does take some getting used to having your cell phone available. I do like not getting up and running to a land line phone to answer it though.
When there was a brush fire across the street from us years ago, the fire department took 20 minutes to find our street and this was after I called them several times to tell them I could see they were on the wrong street. So, that was not a reason for us to keep the line. I hope that was a learning experience for them to remember our street. Geesh.
Just a reminder for those of you with VOIP landlines who want to get rid of telemarketing and political calls, Nomorobo is free with most carriers and it works. You can also use it on cellphones but there’s a monthly fee for that.
https://www.nomorobo.com/. It’s not perfect – I probably get 1 or 2 unwanted calls a month now that it’s installed. But I used to get at least 4-5 per day.
Yes, ditched the land lines.
Changed home land line #1 to VOIP when we created an AT&T Uverse bundle 3 years ago. Saved $20/month on phone costs for more features.
Changed home (business) land line #2 to home wireless with AT&T in a new DirecTV bundle (from Uverse) last month. Saved $55/month on phone costs due to the bundling discounts. AT&T raised business landline accounts to $65 recently, even though the line was coming into our home.
Call quality is the same for both lines. #1 still works with our alarm system. #2 worked during a recent power outage - this is a modem with a battery, while #1 didn’t work.
Combining all bills and changing from Uverse to DirecTV: Internet cost went down $25/month, TV went down $50/month, phone costs savings still calculating.
I use DONOTCALL.GOV and Nomorobo.com to severely reduce marketing calls.
@MichiganGeorgia oh thank goodness! We were constantly going over! Of course they never let us know. X( I noticed I didn’t get the popup letting me know I was over this month, but I thought it was because the girls were at camp and not sucking the data like they normally do.
We have directv for our cable, and we’re kinda locked into it until October of this year. I need to call them and get rid of the upstairs receiver because the girls don’t watch normal tv anymore. It’s on my to-do list, our directv bill was 150 bux and there are no premium channels-usually I call about every six months and threaten to quit unless they drop it down to 100, and then they say I can’t leave, and I say I can drop it down to the bare minimum of 24$ and then leave unless they drop it down, and they do. It’s such a drag to have to constantly make them put it back to a reasonable price…
Yep, I have a curtain that goes over the jack because it’s next to the window. Right now the cord makes the curtain push to the side. I’m looking forward to hiding it completely someday.
Unless you have unlimited cell minutes, landlines come in handy when your friendly XYZ provider or cc company puts you on hold until their next representative would be able to take your call.
Land line? Do people still have those things?
@patsmom: Wonder why nomorobo is only for VOIP landlines? I was excited for a quick minute, and then…
@BunsenBurner - They actually have cell phone plans with limited minutes? I thought that was a thing of the past…lol
MG, mobile to mobile is usually unlimited, like it had been for ages, but some plans curb calling non-mobile numbers at x minutes per month.
I don’t think I’ve had a minute limitation on any of our cellphones for over 10 years. I gave up unlimited data (unfortunately) a couple of years ago to be able to use mobile hot spot.
My parents had Comcast phone service, moved the number to Vonage, their Comcast bill was higher with 2 versus 3 services, moved that number back to Comcast and had no issue doing that
@MomofWildChild I use Verizon for cell service (as stated on the [“Can you hear me now”](Can You Hear Me Now? Share Your Cellphone 411... - #72 by Happy2Help - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums) thread), I have unlimited data, and I use an app called PdaNet+ for a free mobile hot spot.
I’m ATT and have a lot of data, which has only gone over (due to my son) once.
Same here. Ringer has been off for years, but it is the number taken over by the telemarketers and also banks want a landline to verify your cards.
It also works when the power is out.
I’ve never had an issue verifying cards by a cell phone.
Just verified a CC on mobile today
I doubt that I will ever get rid of our landline. I was about to 10 years ago. Then right around then, my H had a medical emergency and the 911 operator had to talk me through CPR. It was awful. It may sound odd, but I really don’t think I could have told them my address. I’m a very calm, collected person and I was losing it. Big time. It took everything I had to keep it together and start CPR. Emergency was busting down our door in 5 min. Anyhow it makes me not want to get rid of the landline though I think it is somewhat irrational. Not being able to give the address to 911 seems like unusual thing to happen. But since it happened to me once, I think I’m stuck with my landline for my mental health.
BTW, H is fine and has NO memory of it. Wish I could say the same.
We’ve lost power and been stuck at home for a few days at a time due to major storms on several occasions over the last 10 years. Our landline never went out. The thought of being dependent on a cell phone with dwindling power scares me. (Yes, a generator would help on all fronts, but we haven’t wanted to make the investment.) I also find the sound quality to be vastly better on the landline, and my hearing certainly isn’t going to be getting any better with age. Sometimes you just have to accept your dinosaur status with a smile.
At our small business, our alarm company told us to keep a landline for the burglar/fire alarms–they weren’t comfortable with the cable company alternative. We kept the landlines but signed up for the cable company’s internet/TV/phone package to get the cheap rate on internet (our cable company charges a lot for commercial cable customers), but never used the TV hookup and dropped the phone almost immediately, yet we still get a rate that’s less than cable alone years later. I don’t think they really know what they’re doing, but it’s okay with me.